And None Of Them Knew They Were Robots

 When writing the post on Day Of Less, I kept thinking they reminded me of another band. It wasn't until the run up to this post that I realized they reminded me of And None Of Them Knew They Were Robots. Hailing from Leeds, the Robots were part of the amazing emo scene the UK had at the time, featuring bands like Caesura and One Toy Soldier. Like Day Of Less, they mixed hardcore with midwest emo and emo pop, and also like Day Of Less they abandoned this sound after one album and went almost pure hardcore for the second.

The band's first release was in 2001, the self-titled album featured here. It's their only midwest emo-flavored release, mixing hardcore-style vocals with clean riffs; the much-mourned Castevet (later CSTVT) strike me as a spiritual successor in some ways. Their second album, Liebestod, came out in 2002 and kept only the hardcore aspects of the first. The band's final release was called Victory As A Drug, put out in 2003, and it features yet another sound shift. The band revisits the emo pop\hardcore paradigm, at times sounding like a harder-edged Braid. In 2016, the band released a vinyl-only discography which includes four unique tracks, though it omits the hidden track from Victory. These four tracks are mainly in the style of the first album.

Edit 8/26/25: The band has a Bandcamp now, where the demos from the vinyl compilation can be downloaded separately. Even better, the band has reformed and released a new album, Almanac, which is a departure from their earlier work (understandably so, given the decades-long gap) but is excellent regardless.

Self-Titled + Liebestod + Victory As A Drug

Vinyl Discography

Day of Less

Day of Less were a band from Salt Lake City, active from around 2001 to 2006. The band released their first LP, Ad Hoc, in 2002, and on it their sound is a cross between midwest emo, emo pop, and hardcore. Given the time period, I should clarify that this mixture does not actually make them sound like the early 'mall emo' bands that were using roughly the same formula. Day of Less are pulling from the 90s, and what makes them stand out is just how much midwest emo they employ, to the point I'd say that Ad Hoc is mostly a midwest emo-pop album, similar something like Christiansen or #1 Defender. Prior to the album, the band released a split with The Great Anti-Listen called snapshot in time that features the same sort of sound.

Three years later the band would put out their second album, Porcaria, in which they left behind their emo influences in favor of the hardcore. This was the band's last release.

Ad Hoc

Dreams Forever Drowning

Dreams Forever Drowning were a band from New York, active from 2001 to 2004. Their sound is an eclectic mash up of early 2000s emo pop and influences from screamo and hardcore. The songs can turn on a dime, going from pretty standard emo pop to straight up hardcore within seconds, often changing multiple times within the same song. A review at the time said it was an interesting combination but one that didn't necessarily gel all that well, and I tend to agree. The styles don't always blend and some of the songs feel like multiple songs awkwardly crammed together instead of proper hybrids. That being said, it's still an interesting album and if the band had kept putting out music I think they may have smoothed things out, as evidenced by an unreleased EP from 2004 which is a little more cohesive.

The band supposedly did three releases: a demo, the Entire Parts Never To Be Left Incomplete EP in 2002, and the 2004 unreleased four-track EP. I have the 2002 EP and the 2004 EP on offer, but as of yet haven't found the demo.

entire parts never to be left incomplete + unreleased EP

Rats Into Robots

Roaring out of Columbus, Ohio, Rats Into Robots were a screamo band active in the early 2000s. Their sound is a calamitous blast of screamo\hardcore buffered by long passages of eerie ambience. They're too melodic to be emoviolence, but they sure come close sometimes. This is aggressive, atonal screamo that's an assault on the senses, and I mean that in the best way. The album art does a great job of capturing the album's mood. Also, judging by the album title and at least one of the songs, someone in the band is a big fan of Dune.

The band doesn't have much of a discography. Their first release was a split with Textbook Traitors in 2003, followed by the 2004 album A Column of Smoke By Day, a Pillar of Fire By Night. That same year the band also contributed a track to the The Microwave Says To The Pacemaker compilation, which is a great bit of collected screamo.

Rats Into Robots Discography